German stranded at Delhi Airport for 54 days leaves for Amsterdam

Team Udayavani, May 12, 2020, 3:38 PM IST

Edgard Ziebart, a 40-year-old German national who was living in Delhi airport’s transit area for the past 55 days left for Amsterdam in a relief flight of KLM Airlines on Tuesday morning.

He was on his way from Hanoi to Istanbul and when he arrived in New Delhi, India suspended all flights to Europe. Later all the international flights were suspended. Stranded at the airport,  Ziebat could neither exit India, nor the airport’s transit area, because he does not have an Indian visa.

Sources claim, German embassy refused to provide him refuge because he is wanted on assault charges there. India also denied him a visa to leave the airport due to his criminal record, leaving him languishing in the terminal with only his luggage

However, A spokesman for the German embassy said that Ziebat was offered a passage back to Germany, but he declined the offer.

It is said that he spent days by reading magazines and newspapers, talking to his friends and family over the phone and  eating at some of the fast-food outlets still in operation within the terminal, He also interacted with housekeeping and security staff, took walks within the transit area, and used  the airport’s washrooms and toilets.

Now finally, he left for Amsterdam in a relief flight of KLM Airlines as he was eligible to go to Europe. Ziebart was scanned for coronavirus infection before he got on to the flight around 3 am with 291 other passengers. It was a special flight being operated from Delhi to Amsterdam. His tickets cost him around Rs 43,000 and he paid for them on his own